Frankenstein: Book One, Prodigal Son- Dean Koontz

Modern Day Prometheus Is Up To No Good

Dean Koontz reworks Mary Shelley’s classic, Frankenstein, placing both Victor Frankenstein and his creation in modern day America.  Koontz’s contemporary version has Victor Frankenstein as Victor Helios, a name chosen by the maniacal doctor to reflect his own belief in his power.  Helios was the god of the sun, a powerful deity, and Victor sees himself as just that:  a deity.  His first creation, often mistakenly referred to as Frankenstein (Shelley never meant the creation to be considered a monster; the doctor manipulating the creation of life was her monster) is named Deucalion. Koontz’s naming of this character reflects the subtitle of Shelley’s original tale:  Frankenstein, Prometheus Unbound.  Prometheus was the Greek god who gave mankind fire (and paid dearly when Zeus found out!) and Deucalion was his son.  Interestingly, Deucalion and his wife Pyhrra were the only beings left alive after the flood Zeus inflicted on mankind because of their wickedness.

Frankenstein is set in New Orleans, and in addition to Deucalion and Victor Helios, there is a cast of characters all acting in tandem around a central story of a serial killer terrorizing the Cresent City.  Detectives Carson O’Connor and her partner Michael Maddison are working to catch him before the body count gets any higher.  The serial killer, Roy Pribeaux, doesn’t kill indiscriminately, however.  He’s looking to construct the perfect woman out of the perfect parts he’s collected from women.  However, a new killer arrives on the scene, a killer who takes out internal organs, and not just from women.  The detectives have to determine what the truth of all the killings is if they ever expect to find the killer.  In addition, the story involves Victor Helios, who has moved on from just creating one being 200 years ago and now has a legion of beings he’s created and who have been sent out into the city to live and work among the humans he intends to someday eliminate.  Victor has also improved himself, with countless surgeries to keep him forever young.  But something unexpected has happened to Victor’s creations:  they are beginning to think for themselves.  His wife, Erica 5 (an improvement on the previous four) reads poetry and has found hope in life; another creation Victor intentionally made with autism has become obsessed with finding others like him who he sees have achieved something he hasn’t, happiness; and yet another seems to be opening up humans to find out what it is inside them that makes them happy.

Koontz’s Frankenstein retelling is interesting, and he is particularly successful in making Deucalion an appealing and likable character.  Unlike the sophisticated man Victor Helios, who is really a monster, the scarred and gigantic Deucalion is a thoughtful creature who fights his rage and knows he must do whatever he can to stop his creator.  The story is compelling and engrossing.

The problems with the story stem from the way the book is structured.  Each time the author switches the point of view from one character to another, a new chapter is begun.  He switches often, which results in 97 chapters in a 469 page novel.  Some chapters are only three pages long, and the effect of jumping from character to character and beginning a new chapter each time is distracting.  Often the chapters deal with the same event from a different point of view, but longer chapters would work just as well and be less distracting.  In addition, Koontz doesn’t finish the story with this first book.  In fact, he ends this book before the serial killer is found and nothing is wrapped up at the conclusion of the book.  While I certainly understand the author’s idea to create a series, the end is unfulfilling, to say the least.  Will readers continue on to the second installment of the Frankenstein series?  Probably, but it still seems a poor way to end a novel.

Overall, other than the chapter divisions designed for those with ADD, this story is a good one.  I have never been a Frankenstein fan, but I find that I want to read the second novel because of Deucalion, the character most associate with the name Frankenstein.  Koontz’s monster is anything but, which aligns him with Shelley’s intent in her original story.
-Alexandria

Dead Perfect-Amanda Ashley

Another Dying Girl And The Vampire Who Loves Her Story

Dead Perfect is the story of Shannah Davis, a young woman who is a virgin and dying, and Ronan, a vampire.  She stalks him for months trying to work up the courage to approach him because she is convinced he is a vampire and can save her life by making her immortal. When she does finally go to his home to find out if what she dreams of is true, she finds that the vampire won’t admit he’s a vampire and won’t help her.  However, she falls down the stairs as she’s leaving his door, and he takes her in to help her.  He becomes enchanted by her and begins to do the only thing vampires aren’t supposed to do:  fall in love with a human.

Ronan is a romance novelist who has written under various female names for decades.  This is a bit tongue-in-cheek for a romance story, but it seems less that when the reader looks at the back of the book where the usual picture of the author is.  There is no picture of Ms. Ashley, nor is there one online, even on her (?) myspace.  Could it be that Dead Perfect is a tiny window into the life of a male romance writer using the pseudonym Amanda Ashley?  I don’t know, but I suspected the characterization of Ronan was too cute by half even before I did a little searching online.  Ronan is an alright romantic hero.  He’s not great, but he’s alright. He meets all the basic qualifications: he’s good looking, charming, protective, takes care of business, and loves the heroine.   But his occupation just seems too contrived.

Shannah is the typical sick-girl-who-falls-for-a-vampire-heroine, except for her being a virgin.  Ashley seems to want to hit all the romantic formula buttons with this character.  A virgin?  It’s the 21st century.  This isn’t even realistic since she’s a young woman who has lived on her own for a number of years.

The bigger issue is the sick girl thing. It’s become quite the rage for this type of character to be involved with vampires in romance novels.  Perhaps it’s because vampires can give them what other men can’t: a cure for their illness (almost always terminal) and a life afterward.  Whatever the reason for the popularity of this story device, it gets old after the fourth or fifth time it shows up in romance novels. And the heroine’s behavior never rings true.  Whether she is having sex like a porn star, verbally sparring with the hero, or storming away after a fight with him, the sick girl always seems to be entirely too active for a sickly creature.  Shannah does get stronger because of her drinking Ronan’s blood (unbeknownst to her), but the sick girl theme still seems hackneyed.

The dialogue in this story is cringeworthy, but not in the same way that J.R. Ward’s Brothers’ words are difficult to read because no man speaks that way.  No, the dialogue that Ashley puts into her characters’ mouths is just stilted.  Nothing they say seems to flow quite right.  This could be from the overuse of exclamation points, especially in Ronan’s parts.  He seems a bit too excitable in his speech for a vampire, who are generally pretty cool customers.

The biggest issue the book has is that it goes a full 300+ pages before the two main characters have sex.  Ok, so the book isn’t supposed to be erotica, but over 300 pages? And then they only have sex once they get married, which involves the planning for the wedding, the days up to the wedding….ugh! The sex is lackluster, at best, also. The reader waits all that time to see them finally get together and gets this:  “She lifted her hips to receive him, moaned with pleasure as his body became a part of hers. They moved together, slowly at first, and then with greater intensity as the passion between them grew stronger, deeper.” And there’s some mention of the sex being just as her mother had promised.

Dead Perfect isn’t a very good romance novel.  Ronan is ok as a hero, but he needs more romance and sexiness around him.  The sick girl thing is done, and the dialogue isn’t believable.  What could save it is some great sex, but even that doesn’t happen.
–Alexandria

Till We Have Faces; A Myth Retold, by C.S. Lewis

One Cannot Be Seen True Until The Soul is Bare.

Poignant and thought provoking, Lewis, in his altered retelling of the classical myth involving Cupid, Psyche, and Orual, unearths the sweet and terrible mysteries between mortal and divine, which each man ardently reaches for yet at the same time,  contemptuously shuns.

Three sisters born to the King of Glome, a barbaric kingdom preceeding the advent of Christianity, Orual, Redival, and Psyche are ensnared by the reality and superstitions of the day, and from which the myth is born.  Orual, the oldest sister, ugly and spurned by their father sets all her love and attention upon her youngest sister, Psyche, whose beauty is revered by all.  Superstitions and pagan worship practices of the day demand a human sacrifice when drought and famine descend upon the community, with the lot falling to pure and lovely Psyche, who is left for the Shadowbrute to be both loved and devoured.  Having a doubter’s heart, Orual is devastated by the loss of the only love in her life and determines to discover the truth of what has become of her beloved Psyche.  When she discovers her sister alive and happy, she is overjoyed, but this joy quickly turns to fear and anger as Psyche speaks of her life in a palace as the secret wife of a god – a god whose face she may not look upon.  Fearing madness or some more horrible plot has deceived her dear sister, Orual defiantly sets off a chain of events that lead to a terrifying encounter with the divine, and to a lifetime of suffering and anguish of the soul.

Orual’s accusation against and demand for justice is met by silence on the part of the gods, which strengthens her belief in her innocence before them.  What Orual must discover is that the gods do not speak openly to us, nor let us answer until we cease our ramblings, enact true self-reflection and examination, speak from our true hearts, and finally have faces.

Recommendation:  ****_  (4 out of 5 stars)

  Definately worth reading.  Lewis gives us glimpses of ourselves in more than one character in his masterful way.

~Moira

Dark Places-Gillian Flynn

Living Dead

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn is the story of a young woman, Libby Day, a survivor of a murder spree that killed her mother and two sisters when she was seven years old.  Her brother is serving a life sentence for the murder, and Libby is an psychological mess.  She is contacted by a group called The Kill Club, which is interested in meeting her because its members believe her brother, Ben, is innocent of the murders.  Libby meets them, and even though she believes her brother is guilty, she agrees to speak to people involved in the case because she needs the money the club will pay her.  The story of Dark Places is what she finds out by dredging up the past 25 years later.

The reader learns about a family that suffered through hard times and a 15 year old boy who was lost, but not only because he listened to music that frightened his mother or died his hair black or was a loner at school.  Ben Day was lost because his whole life had been one of lack:  he lacked a father figure;  he lacked nice things;  he lacked the ability to tell his girlfriend no because he so desperately didn’t want to be alone.  The story is as much about Ben as it is about Libby.  Both have spent time in the dark places in their minds.

The story is a well crafted one.  It includes many twists and turns, and the ending is a surprise, like an O. Henry story.  Flynn moves back and forth from the past to the present devoting chapters to Libby’s viewpoint of the present and the past in those days right before the murders, Ben’s viewpoint of the present and the days leading up to the murders and then the moments of the murders, and her mother Patty’s viewpoint of the days before the murders and that fateful night.

Flynn is best when she’s writing as Libby in the present.  Her characterization of her is superior to all the other characters; Libby’s voice is the most convincing of all the viewpoints.  Flynn is successful in showing the pain Libby still feels, 25 years after the loss of her mother and two sisters.  Libby is a shell of a person:  she has no job, no friends, no life.  She’s as much a dead person as they are after the murders. She believes her brother is guilty, not because she knows it to be fact, but because she’s never been able to think about it after she testified against him. She is cynical.  It’s all she has.  Flynn’s writing brings the sadness and hollowness of Libby right off the pages.

Ben’s parts of the book show a weak person.  He is a lacking character, and even though he has admirers who see him as a man punished unfairly, the reader quickly understands that even if he’s innocent of the murders, as his admirers and the Kill Club believe, his weaknesses then and now have caused his imprisonment. Flynn does a good job showing the smallness of this man, who has strangely had it easier than Libby because even though he’s in jail, he knows the truth.

Flynn also is successful in making the villains of the story despicable.  She crafts their characters into finely tuned creatures easy to hate.  Ben’s girlfriend and the father of the Day family are portrayed as vile, deserving of no pity from Libby.  That she is unable to hate them by the end of the story gives the glimmer of hope that she has begun to heal the wounds that have made her life a mess.

Dark Places is quite dark at times, but the book is worth the time to read it.  The characterizations are well written, and the plot is interesting enough to keep the reader’s attention to the end. By the end of the story, Libby and her brother are less broken, less hollow.  But each has lost 25 years of life because of one fateful night all those years ago.
-Alexandria

Darkness Burning-Delilah Devlin

Raw Sex With Vampires In The Big Easy

Darkness Burning is a vampire novel set in New Orleans.  It’s sensual in its style and full on, no holds barred erotica.  This book isn’t your average vampire romance.  Stories like  those in Christine Feehan’s Carpathian vampire series and J.R. Ward’s Brotherhood vampire series read like children’s literature compared to Darkness Burning.  Delilah Devlin’s vampires and supporting characters are wild, particularly when it comes to sex.  This book is steamy and then some.  If you’re looking for some funky, let your freak hair fly, down and dirty erotic vampire story, this is one to read.

The leading lady in Darkness Burning is a young journalist named Mikaela Jones.  Mikaela is a mysterious young lady who can’t remember her past.  That works in romance/erotica novels; there are no pesky family members for any potential romantic hero/erotic sex partner to have to contend with.  The hero of the story is a vampire named Alex Broussard.  He’s sexy (he’s a vampire; it’s an occupational perk) and he’s extraordinary, even in the supernatural world.  Alex is a born vampire, which means he has power that others don’t.  Ok.  Everything is in place for these two to get together.  Beautiful girl, check.  Hot, sexy vampire, check.  Seductive location, check.  Oh, but there’s a wrench in the plan for them to get together:  some vampire group that wants Alex dead is a problem for him, and once they know Mikaela is with him, it’s a problem for her too.

Darkness Burning doesn’t have much story, so to speak, and what it does have is a little bizarre.  There’s a pregnant vampire with Alex’s baby who is with some other vampire; there’s some portal Alex travels through with a wolf he used to have sex with; there are the vampire group politics and issues that involve Alex and Mikaela’s safety; and there’s the ending–discussing it here would give too much away, but it’s pretty wild.  However, the main focus of the story is sex.  And this isn’t your average vampire/mortal sex in which the vampire bites the mortal, tastes the sweetest nectar he’s every sampled, and then wrestles with the torture of deciding to turn her or not.  No, this is the kind of sex that soft core porn stars say, “No, I don’t do that shit on film.  My parents are still living,” if they are asked to do it in a Skinamax film.  This sex is fucking raw.  Any time a reader gets finished with a sex scene and has to rub her eyes because what she read was that…wild…freaky…uninhibited, then that’s some fucking raw sex.

There is some romance here, though.  Alex does care about Mikaela almost instantly after meeting her, and he does try to make sure she will avoid the danger around him.  She is charmed by him, but it isn’t until later in the story that it’s because of anything but sexual attraction.

Darkness Burning isn’t a bad erotic story.  It’s a bit convoluted, but the sex is the wildest this broad has ever read out of the romance section at Borders.  Devlin sure isn’t a shy wallflower in her writing, and another of her stories would be worth a try.  At the very least, even if the next story is like Darkness Burning, there will be some incredible sex to read about.
-Alexandria

Burn, Baby, Burn….

Darkness Burning does burn indeed, and Devlin’s write up of the vampire world in the Big Easy left no taboo undiscovered.  On a positive note, Devlin’s novel introduced at least some vampire characters who were positively bad…(I personally hold to to the Stoker standard).  Otherwise, Devlin’s novel scorched a trail in ink that would leave Caligula blushing like a school-girl virgin.

Not strong on story, Darkness Burning quickly throws our main characters together, one a reporter, the other a powerful vampire.  The city is in near chaos after a natural disaster, leaving the underworld virtually unchecked, and our heroine knows she risks her life to investigate.  The trail of her story leads her to Alex, and she falls under his enthrallment instantly.  Likewise, he feels an irresistible pull toward Mikaela, which places her in danger as Alex maneuvers the powers that be in vampire hierarchy in order to claim his rightful place as the last male born vampire.

I cannot praise Darkness Burning, as no character stands out in this novel.  Devlin’s purpose is pure erotica, and she certainly delivers.  Those craving a good love story will be seriously disappointed.  Those who seek out this novel should prepare for a wild ride, indeed!

Recommendation:  Read it, if you dare!  But for crying out loud,  keep eyedrops nearby…..You may need to flush those peepers out after a few scenes in Devlin’s alter-reality.  Oy-Vey!

~Moira